3rd Major Raid Against ISIS in Iraq in 10 Days
It was the third attack against ISIS in Iraq in the past ten days, following raids on Oct. 14 and 21 that killed ISIS’s leader in Kirkuk and then ISIS’s leader in Iraq overall.
WASHINGTON DC, United States (Kurdistan 24) Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh, on Thursday, described a major raid against ISIS in Iraq that had been undertaken earlier that day by Iraqi and Coalition forces.
The raid was the third significant attack against ISIS in Iraq in the past ten days. It followed raids conducted on Oct. 14 and Oct. 21.
While it is not impossible that the quick succession of attacks on ISIS indicates an increased threat from the terrorist group, it seems more likely that the first raids produced intelligence in the form of phones, computers, etc., and the analysis of that information then led to a subsequent raid.
Pentagon Statement
“Earlier today, US forces participated in an Iraqi-led operation against ISIS fighters in the Anbar province in Iraq,” Singh told the Pentagon press corps, as she explained that no U.S. personnel had been injured in the operation, contrary to what had happened during the previous raid.
On Oct. 21, two U.S. service members were injured in that assault which killed ISIS’s leader in Iraq, who had recently assumed that position.
Read More: US Troops Injured in Raid that Killed ISIS Leader in Iraq
Singh provided some explanation of the U.S. casualties during that operation. “Two US military personnel were wounded by an explosion, while assisting Iraqi forces with site exploitation,” she said.
The wounded soldiers, Singh added, suffered serious injuries, but they were in stable condition. They had been taken to Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington for follow-on treatment, while a third soldier was being assessed for TBI (traumatic brain injury.)
Asked if ISIS was regrouping in Iraq and Syria, she tended to dismiss the suggestion that the threat from the terrorist group had grown—but she did stress that ISIS is still a danger.
“ISIS is not what it was like ten years ago,” Singh said, when the Obama administration sent U.S. forces back to Iraq to fight the newly-emergent threat.
Singh noted that ISIS continues to operate in Iraq and Syria, “but I don’t think that demonstrates necessarily their resurgence” in either country, she said. “But it represents that they still remain a threat, which is why we do these partnered raids with the Iraqi Security Forces.”
Singh also alluded to the increasingly wider scope of the ISIS threat, saying that its “footprint has spread to other parts of the world.”
The first of the three recent raids on ISIS in Iraq, the Oct. 14 assault, took place in the Hamrin mountains, south of Kirkuk, and killed ISIS’s leader in Kirkuk.
A week later, ISIS’ top leader in Iraq was struck in northeastern Iraq. No information has yet been released on ISIS casualties in the latest raid.